Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

In spite of some crazy rule changes, this summer’s games are already hitting the heights. Emmet Moloney is loving the action...

Our games are great. We can pat ourselves on the back safe in the knowledge that hurling has no equal in field sports and Gaelic football, when it is played in the right spirit, is also riveting to watch. But someone somewhere doesn’t think so. Recent rules changes are bordering on the ridiculous and making football in particular very hard to watch. Change is part of life and when games can be improved, they should be. When trends develop, we must act accordingly to combat them – a bit like we did with the third-man tackle. That was a proactive way of coping with a disturbing problem that was emerging in the game. There was a need to respond to it and the GAA did exactly that.

But where, I ask you, was the clamour to change the sideline ball rules? What All-Ireland was lost because a player stepped two yards in field to deliver a long ball? What possible advantage could a player derive from that extra yard or two? And why does a hurling sideline cut have to be taken from on or right beside the line?

Complaining about linesmen behaving like fussy schoolmarms as they physically manhandle players back for the sake of a yard might sound like nit-picking on my part, but this is petty carry-on from officialdom. Some grounds aren’t big enough to allow players a proper run-up to take these sideline balls. And while I’m at it, blowing back players for taking a quick free about three or four yards from where the foul occurred is just plain daft. It is penalising the team that was just fouled and it encourages opposition players to get in the way of a player about to take a quick free kick. If you are not shooting directly for goal, you should be allowed some leniency when it comes to free-taking.

The secret to good football is the speed at which the ball moves. Anything that can help that process will be good for the game. The pick off the ground and the fast hand-pass are just two obvious keys to this. Yet, instead of nurturing those attributes, we are watching championship games these past few weeks stifled by referees. Have they forgotten about the advantage rule?

Okay, that’s this week’s rant over. Back to the positive: Sligo and Louth have added spice to the championship and thank God for that. Shocks are what we thrive on and the smaller the minnow, the better that surprise.

Clare’s young guns rattled the Déise on Monday, a game all of us 11,000 in attendance really enjoyed. It had the cut of championship about it. Don’t be writing off Davy’s side in the Munster final; the best way to win a semi-final is ugly. They are still a top-table county.
The Wee County, in particular, are most welcome to the football top table, however short they stay. They have a real chance of reaching a Leinster final and wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the colour and atmosphere they would bring to the big day. Football is the only code that can still provide us with a story like Louth’s.

Monaghan, like Louth, racked up a huge score when knocking off their more illustrious opponents. The qualifiers could really take off this summer: already we have Kildare, Armagh, Mayo and this weekend Cork or, more than likely, Kerry will join them.

Micko’s Wicklow are also there and if they are first out of the pot no team will fancy that trip to Aughrim. This is football’s biggest strength – the fact that it is much easier to make it to the big stage as a county with the big ball. What would hurling be like if we had so many teams involved and with realistic expectations?

This weekend, Dublin’s footballers make their summer début, leaving only Kilkenny’s hurlers of the big guns we have yet to see. Wexford, a team in freefall almost since their impressive march to an All-Ireland semi-final just two years ago, provide the opening fodder for the Dubs. Well, that’s the plan anyway. Think of the money the GAA would lose if the Dubs ended up in the qualifiers! Imagine the Dubs in Aughrim – wouldn’t Micko just love that.
Funnily enough, the best team I have seen this year play the curtain-raiser in Croke Park on Sunday. That team is Meath and now that I have hexed them, they will probably implode. Sorry Royals, but I think ye are going places this year. A transitional Laois stand in the way of a Dublin-Meath semi-final. As soon as anyone mentions that marquee pairing, the clichés about 1991 and draws will start. What of it – they rarely let us down.

On the other side of the Leinster draw sit Westmeath and Louth. Deep down they’ll be hoping that the Dubs and Meath meet in the other semi-final because they will kick lumps out of each other, players will be sent off and engines will be drained.

The same theory applies for Limerick. Cork and Kerry will suffer the natural low that comes from beating the old enemy. The Munster football final will be in the Gaelic Grounds and is set up for Limerick, who have thrown away three Munster finals in the last 10 years. With all that happened to GAA followers in that county this past year, they need the lift. The romance of the GAA often works like that. When your hurlers are struggling, your footballers pick up the county. Maybe if the Cats went away for a few years their footballers would pick up the slack!

It’s Leaving Cert week so the weather will be fine, the weekends getting only busier. Spare a thought for the Clare minor hurler who has to take his Applied Maths exam on the same day that he plays against Limerick in a Munster semi-final. A game as serious as that on the night of a Leaving Cert exam? For a teenager, the chance to play in a Munster hurling final doesn’t come around too often. For a Clare teenager that’s a rare and precious opportunity! But I hear the GAA is not for budging. By the way, the Cork minor hurlers play the next day – a Saturday. Good man Frank, you know the value of the lessons!

To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Irish Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...